Word: falstaffs
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What we have, in sum, is a director who is trying to put on a show called Falstaff, a star who is playing in a different work (the one actually written by Shakespeare), and a surrounding cast that is deficient for either. We deserve better
Kilty is marvelous at conveying Falstaff's weight; and when he drops his walking stick in the first tavern scene, he has trouble picking it up -- with hilarious effect. This stick, by the way, is his chief prop -- a little too short, and comically bent. It looks all the funnier when juxtaposed with the long straight staff carried by the prim and proper Chief Justice (Alexander Clark). When Kilty tries to use his stick as a sword, the result is worthy of W.C. Fields' famous attempt to play pool with a crooked...
...Housatonic takes under three hours via the Massachusetts Turnpike, the Route 91 bypass and either Exit 53 from the Merritt Parkway or Exit 32 from the Connecticut Turnpike. Performances tend to begin promptly at the designated hour. There are free outdoor facilities for picnickers.) final scene, when Falstaff appears with a saffron cloth tied on his stick to hail and cheer the prince-becomeking, only to be banished in return by the just-crowned Henry V, Kilty's facial expression and slow lowering of the stick and hands are deeply touching...
...have to say that, at the opening performance, the physical largeness and roundness of Falstaff were fully conveyed but his largeness and roundness of personality were not entirely captured. Memory may be playing me false, but I have the impression that Kilty did manage to embody the latter completely in past years. Nonetheless, of all those who currently have the role in their repertories, Jerome Kilty and Eric Berry are pre-eminent...
Young Alan Howard is appealing as Falstaff's page, especially when he vainly tries to conceal his master behind his tiny slip of a body. Paul Sparer brings a comically expressive face and drawn-out speech ("Jee-ee-su [long pause], dead!") to the senile Justice Shallow, but Patrick Hines overdoes his trembling and doddering companion Justice Silence...